Africa

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the African Dialogue Series, in New York today:

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Dian Triansyah Djani (Indonesia):

The use of explosive weapons in populated areas of Libya’s capital, Tripoli, continues to cause civilian casualties, with at least six killed and five others injured in an apparent air strike in Qasr bin Ghashir on Tuesday, according to staff of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Amid the spate of terrorist attacks and the uptick in intercommunal violence in Africa’s Sahel region, top security and peacebuilding officials called upon the Security Council today to support efforts to make the G5 Sahel Joint Force fully operational by ensuring it receives sustainable and predicable funding and resources.

UNICEF reports that 894 children — including 106 girls — were released today from the ranks of the Civilian Joint Task Force, a local militia that helps the Nigerian security forces in the fight against insurgency in the country’s north‑east.  UNICEF says more than 3,500 children were recruited between 2013 and 2017.

Around 1 million species are threatened with extinction as nature declines at unprecedented rates, a global assessment launched today by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services warns, listing amphibians, corals and marine mammals as among the most threatened.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says most Ebola response activities have been relaunched in Butembo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu Province following a slowdown caused by the attack that left Cameroonian doctor Richard Valéry Mouzoko dead and two other people injured.

Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed grave concern today that thousands of civilians remain stranded in conflict-affected areas of Tripoli.  She stressed in a statement the urgent need to create safe humanitarian corridors for trapped civilians, for an immediate ceasefire and for resumed talks.

The Security Council, by a vote of 13 in favour to none against with 2 abstentions (Russian Federation, South Africa), today decided to extend the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for a period of six months.

Briefing the Security Council, the High Commissioner for Refugees stressed today that there is an unprecedented stigmatization of refugees and migrants in the media and in politics, and that this should concern us all as it is creating a toxic environment that makes it increasingly difficult to tackle this issue.